King of the JungleCarol McDaneld

One of my top desires for this trip was to take the boys on a proper safari. While I knew that we would get some game drives with the overland trip, I was unsure of their quality and duration. I know that I didn’t want to haul the kids to Africa and miss out on the animals, so we booked an extra trip to a classic safari camp. And we figured that if we were going to do it, we should do it right.

Davison Camp is located on a concession within the Hwange Game Reserve, best accessed by small plane. As we landed, we could see elephants and zebras tearing off the runway to make space for us. Our “quick drive to camp” turned into our first game drive as the animals started making their appearances, and we had several exciting sightings before we ever saw the camp.

Neil watching elephants as we start to land.

The Cape Buffalo - our guide's most feared animal. As he put it, "Every other animal is predictable. Respect their rules and it'll be fine. But the buffalo...you'll just be sitting there and everything is good. Then one of them will give you a look like you owe him money. Then there's trouble."

Traffic jam between the airport and camp.

Davison Camp is not the most luxurious of the several camps in the concession, which only leaves the Zimbabwean definition of “safari luxury” to the imagination. The large dining area provided unobstructed views of a watering hole and plain with a fire pit and pool stationed under the wide sky. Our family tent turned out to be a two-room suite with big windows, electricity, fans, large comfortable beds, and a separate bathroom for each room. Technically, it had canvas walls, so I guess it was a tent by strict definition.

To make sure we kept up our strength, we were fed 6 times a day - standard meals were served in multiple courses on the white tablecloth-draped tables, afternoon tea, and homemade appetizers during each game drive. We must not have been drinking enough because, by our last game drive, the drinks cooler contained 4 separate bottles of wine in addition to the soft drinks, lemonade, and beer in case they were guessing wrong at our preferences.

So with every creature comfort covered, we had nothing to do but focus on the experience. Our guide, Kingsley, was amazing. While he knew where to find the animals and an endless ream of facts about them, he also knew the plant and insect life, the geographic and political history of the region, and the current conservation challenges. And because he had children of his own, he was great with the boys. If we needed to stop and watch the terrapins scramble to the side of every mud puddle in the road, or spend more time watching the monkeys play, then that was the plan.

We spent 3 full days exploring Hwange and loved every minute. Here are some of our favorite sightings:

We saw some young adult lionesses playing with a (trigger warning) dead jackal pup like it was a ball of string, and then begin to chase and wrestle with each other. This was a few feet from the safari truck (apparently safe as long as you don’t move and break the silhouette of the truck). It turns out that lions will kill jackals in their territory as they compete for some of the same food sources, but do not eat them.

Baboons (not our favorite animal, see post on Victoria Falls) running in fear from the green laser light our guide used to point out animals.

Wildebeest bulls staking out their territories like evenly spaced pegs on a battleship board. Each bull defends a territory (ideally with good grass, maybe some water access, a little high ground) and then calls the ladies hoping they will come over. They dig their faces into the ground, rub them on trees, bellow, and chase each other - good fun!

A newborn elephant was paraded directly into the camp by her herd immediately after birth - as in, the mother was still passing the afterbirth. This newborn ellie had his ears plastered to his head and they were very pink. He was still unsure about walking, his trunk was useless and dragging, and a few times he fell over. The mother would gently nudge him with a foot until the baby was able to rise again. We saw the same elephant the next day, by which time he had learned to run, flap his (now gray) ears, and was beginning to figure out what to do with a trunk. Elephants will seek out camps during vulnerable times because predators are less likely to be close to people. It was amazingly lucky to see!

Our guide Kingsley, showing us a long-deceased elephant. Because the hide is so thick, all the elephant juice stays inside and acidifies. When the corpse finally ruptures, all the plants in the area are killed and nothing else can grow there for up to 2 years.

All the babies - we travelled at the beginning of the wet season which means the animals are dispersed and harder to see, but also are having their babies. Impala keep their little ones in a “kindergarten” group run by 2-3 females, where they race and bounce about learning to use their legs. Elephants are “babies” for years, but are very playful. We watched them wrestle and splash and roll all about the ground. Wildebeest calves keep close by mom’s side. Hyenas nurse their pups for 12-18 months, which meant curious pups chewing on the truck tires while we watched their moms suckle brand new pups in shallow dens.